


Return Address

by All_My_Characters_Are_Dead



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: I don't know, M/M, i think, the beginning is kind rough but it's a happy thing i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 18:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8928829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_My_Characters_Are_Dead/pseuds/All_My_Characters_Are_Dead
Summary: Shirabu gets a cow for Christmas.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [novocaine_sea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/novocaine_sea/gifts).



> Okay so this is more plot-heavy and stuff than I planned but I think it turned out okay.   
> To: Novocaine_Sea  
> Merry Christmas, and I really hope you like this as much as I liked the thing you wrote for me.

Shirabu didn’t talk to Ushijima on the way back to the school. He barely acknowledged him during the meeting afterwards, or their hundred punishment serves. Shirabu couldn’t believe they’d actually lost. He just...couldn’t. He’d depended on Ushijima’s strength, he’d been so sure of his own decisions, his own belief that their volleyball - straightforward, strong, unstoppable - couldn’t be beaten. And yet…

Shirabu couldn’t face Ushijima after that. Half of him believed he’d let Ushijima down, and the other half almost believed Ushijima had let  _ him _ down. And that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t, and Shirabu knew it, but he still couldn’t face his captain, his ace...his boyfriend. 

Ushijima graduated, and Shirabu couldn’t make himself be there. Instead, he waited a few days, and then, when Ushijima showed up at Shirabu’s house - Ushijima was worried about him, of all things, not even upset Shirabu had missed his graduation - Shirabu blurted out what he was thinking. 

Shirabu hadn’t been enough. Ushijima hadn’t been enough. Their philosophy had been defeated. They hadn’t been good enough, and Shirabu didn’t know how to handle the conflicting feelings. And so he told Ushijima to leave. 

“I just...need time,” Shirabu explained, feeling horrible, like his stomach had been replaced by an endless, churning void. “I need to figure things out.” Ushijima had pressed an incredibly gentle kiss to his forehead, and then left, telling Shirabu he would wait for him to call. 

Shirabu never did.

* * *

 

Shirabu woke much, much earlier on Christmas than he wanted, to his mother calling through his bedroom door to tell him he had a visitor. Shirabu considered just pulling his pillow over his head and trying to go back to sleep, but he abandoned that idea when he heard his mom start up the stairs. He realized that there was a second set of footsteps coming up the steps and scrambled out of bed and managed to throw a shirt on before his mom opened his door. 

“Kenjirou, didn’t you hear me? You have a visitor!” she snapped, stepping into his room. 

“What friend? Taichi and-”

“No, no, not Taichi. Wakatoshi came to see you!” she interrupted. “It’s been ages since he was over, honestly Kenjirou, why don’t you have him over more? Kenjirou? Are you okay?” Shirabu stared at his mom, feeling the blood draining from his face. Ushijima was...no. She was wrong, she had to be. Ushijima hadn’t made any attempt to contact him since he said he would wait for Shirabu to call. But there he was, standing in the hallway behind Shirabu’s mother, gaze fixed on the floor. “Kenjirou!” Shirabu jumped and nearly lost his balance. When he regained his footing, he realized his mother was waiting for an answer. 

“Ah, I haven’t...I mean…”

“This is the first time I have been able to visit,” Ushijima said softly. “I have been very busy with university.” Shirabu’s mother seemed mollified by this. 

“Oh, all right then. We’ll be having a nice family breakfast in an hour. You’re welcome to stay. I know Kenjirou’s missed you,” she added conspiratorily. Ushijima glanced at Shirabu, who refused to meet his gaze. 

“I see. Perhaps I will stay, if he wants,” Ushijima agreed. Shirabu felt his shoulders slump even though he tried to stop them. 

“Great! I’ll call you boys when everything’s ready!” 

Shirabu stood in silence as he heard his mother retreat down the stairs. He could feel Ushijima’s gaze on him, heavy and serious. Shirabu shifted uncomfortably and considered inviting Ushijima in and asking him to sit, just to break the horrible silence. 

“If you still are not ready to see me, I can leave,” Ushijima told him solemnly. “I will not intrude on your family’s-”

“Why are you even here?” Shirabu blurted out, staring at him. Ushijima tilted his head slightly in confusion. 

“I came to see you. I have not heard from you, even though I had hoped you would figure out whatever you needed to and call me. I have missed you,” Ushijima answered. There was hesitation in his eyes, and his voice wavered the slightest bit. Shirabu closed his eyes as the awful, gnawing ache in his heart that had plagued him since he told Ushijima to leave reared its agonizing head once more, stronger than it had been in months. 

“I’m sorry,” Shirabu whispered. He didn’t know what else to say, and once he said it, his thoughts came spilling out. “After we lost...I couldn’t make sense of it, and it hurt because it felt like I’d let you down, or maybe we let each other down, or the team, or...I don’t know. I was confused and upset and seeing you hurt. And by the time I got everything figured out and moved on, I figured you wouldn’t want to hear from me. I thought you’d have moved on, too, so-” Shirabu’s words broke off when he felt a light touch on his cheek. He blinked up at Ushijima, terrified to move and break the spell of Ushijima’s thumb skimming tenderly over his cheekbone. 

“Every night, I went to bed hoping I would wake up to see you had called or texted,” Ushijima confessed. “And every morning, I was disappointed. I wanted to come and see you sooner, to make sure you were all right and ask if you were ever going to call me. But I wanted to keep my word and wait for you. But last night I could not stop thinking about you, wondering if you had forgotten.”

“I had no idea you were still waiting,” Shirabu admitted. “I thought for sure you had given up on me.” 

“Never. I will never give up on you,” Ushijima insisted. “And if you are still not ready, then as I said, I will not intrude.” Shirabu’s eyes stung as he shook his head. 

“I should have called you months ago,” he choked out past the lump growing in his throat. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have left you waiting for so long. I shouldn’t have assumed…” Shirabu trailed off and shook his head, trying to clear it. “If...if you still want to be with me, then…” Ushijima’s eyes lit up, but his expression stayed serious even as hope colored his voice. 

“May I kiss you, then?” he asked. Shirabu nodded vigorously until Ushijima’s gentle grip on his chin stopped him and tilted his head. When Ushijima’s lips covered his own, Shirabu sank into the kiss, his eyes fluttering shut as his hands came up to grip Ushijima’s shirt. The ache in his heart and the churning guilt in his stomach eased, and Shirabu relaxed for what felt like the first time since the match against Karasuno. 

“Kenjirou, you didn’t tell me Wakatoshi was your  _ boyfriend!” _ Shirabu screeched and threw himself away from Ushijima at his mother’s voice. Ushijima turned toward the hallway and bowed stiffly. 

“I apologize, Shirabu-san,” he intoned. 

“Oh, no, don’t apologize!” Shirabu’s mother replied, flapping a hand. “You’ve done nothing wrong. Kenjirou, dear, if I’d known you two were together, I would have made you bring him over for dinner ages ago!”

“We’re not...I mean, we weren’t...well, we were, but then-” Shirabu scrambled for words, but they continued to escape him. 

“Well, you’d better bring him to the family breakfast, then. I’m introducing him to all of your cousins, too.”

“What?! But they won’t be here until-”

“Dinner tomorrow. You’ll come, won’t you, Wakatoshi? You can invite your parents, too. It’ll be wonderful,” Shirabu’s mother insisted. Shirabu let out a whine of despair. 

“That sounds very nice, Shirabu-san. I would be honored,” Ushijima assured her. “I will mention it to my mother as well.” Shirabu’s mom beamed and clapped her hands together. 

“Excellent! Kenjirou, stop whimpering and be a proper host. Let him sit down before you start making out again, okay?” she ordered. Shirabu’s whine reached a higher pitch, conveying his hopelessness and embarrassment, but his mother just patted Ushijima on the arm, told him to take good care of her son, and then she was gone again.

“Is it all right-”

“Yeah, yeah. Sit, stay, have breakfast. But save yourself and don’t come to dinner tomorrow or my cousins will eat you alive,” Shirabu warned. Ushijima’s lips quirked upward, and he gathered Shirabu into his arms before replying. 

“I would happily be eaten alive if it meant making up for lost time with you,” Ushijima informed him. Shirabu groaned and hid his face in Ushijima’s shoulder. He knew they still had a lot to talk about - from what they both wanted to what they were going to do until Shirabu graduated to possible future plans, as well as what they’d both been up to in their time apart - but for now he just wanted to hide his face and pretend that his mother hadn’t just walked in on him kissing his...boyfriend? Ex-boyfriend? Boyfriend-who-had-been-on-hold? “You are thinking too much,” Ushijima said firmly. 

“You get along with my mother too well,” Shirabu replied, because it was the first thing that came to mind. Ushijima’s chest rumbled beneath Shirabu’s cheek as he chuckled quietly, and suddenly Shirabu wasn’t thinking - much less overthinking - at all.


End file.
